Bush Foes Join Forces For Attack Ad

TALLAHASSEE — In an unprecedented political strike, candidates Jim Smith and Tom Gallagher have joined forces in a TV ad attack against Republican gubernatorial front-runner Jeb Bush.

Media consultants for Smith and Gallagher, veteran state politicians who are trailing Bush in the polls, collaborated on a television ad that ran on Friday night on a Fort Myers television station.

The spot attacks Bush's integrity and past business dealings, accusing him of making a fortune with a partner who is an "international felon" and letting taxpayers pick up the tab for a $4 million loan from a failed savings and loan.

"It's wrong. It's a series of lies," Bush said on Saturday. "I'd like to see them air it. It's so spiteful. It's typical of old-style politicians."

Bush said that he may consider a lawsuit if his attorneys decide the ads are libelous.

But the spot may have run by mistake.

Neither the Smith nor Gallagher campaign would confirm on Saturday that a joint advertising attack had or would definitely occur. Both camps acknowledged that the commercials were being prepared but said no television station had been authorized to run the ad and the final decision on what to air would probably not come until late today.

"Right now, I'm not comfortable commenting on what [campaign ads) exist. We're evaluating several different options," said David Rancourt, manager of the Smith campaign. "It was [Bush's) decision to go negative first. It was a major miscalculation to hit at two people."

Peter Dunbar, Gallagher's campaign manager, said, "Anything we do will be defensible."

Dunbar said the campaigns, which are gearing up for the final weeks before the Sept. 8 primary, had not planned to air any ads until at least Monday.

"We did not authorize any ads. Our instructions were that this is a Monday start," Dunbar said.

On Friday night, members of the Bush campaign team heard audio of a commercial that had been shipped to a West Palm Beach station. The station did not air the commercial that night.

But at 7:10 p.m. Friday, the ad did appear on WBBH-Ch. 20 in Fort Myers, according to a station official.

The ad contends that "Jeb Bush and his partner" borrowed $4 million from a failed savings and loan.

In 1985, Bush was involved in a real estate deal to buy a $9 million office building in Miami. He and partner Armando Codina got a loan from a local insurance company. A third partner, Fort Lauderdale banker Ed Houston, secured a $4.56 million loan from Broward Federal Savings and Loan in Sunrise. When the Broward bank went under, the federal government made good on the loan.

Federal officials in 1989 approved a settlement that allowed Bush and Codina to repay $505,000 of Houston's loan. Bush and Codina kept the building, which they later sold for a $1 million profit.

Smith and Gallagher are rankled over a Bush commercial that began airing last week. The 30-second spot, which is running in the voter-rich Republican areas of Orlando, West Palm Beach, Fort Myers and Tampa, portrays Smith and Gallagher as supporting new taxes.

Smith, Florida's secretary of state, has not promoted taxes in the current campaign. He has advocated a study of expanding the sales tax to more services while halving the sales tax rate.

Gallagher, the state's insurance commissioner, began the drive for "Prisons Now," a proposed constitutional amendment authorizing up to a penny of new sales tax to build prison beds and pay for criminal justice programs. The voters will decide that issue in November.

Both Smith and Gallagher have challenged the Bush tax ad as being false and misleading.

"Jeb Bush went right for the shins," Dunbar said. "They declared war on us. We need to salvage our candidates. They can scream all they want. We'll be ready to back it up."

Tom Slade, chairman of the Florida Republican Party, said he plans to set up a grievance procedure this week for any candidate who feels he has been unfairly treated in a campaign ad.

"Whoever said politics isn't a contact sport?" said Slade, who was attending a Republican Unity Conference in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday. "We have a signed document from all the candidates that they will tell the truth. If they get outside the boundaries, I'll call them to task."